Richard Scott Hamilton

Richard Scott Hamilton was born on June 2, 1937 to Cyrus Scott Hamilton and Frances Louise (Johnson) Hamilton. Dick's father and grandfather were pear orchardists So, his childhood was a good farm life, with four sisters and a little brother. Dick excelled at athletics and held a track record for low hurdles at Crater High for many years. He was part of the only Crater football team to ever defeat the mighty Medford Black Tornados. Dick met his wife, Jane Heberling, in the fifth grade at the old CPE brick building in Central Point. They began dating in high school and married right after graduation high school. Dick went to work for the Oregon State Highway Department right after high school and worked on the survey crew that surveyed for the new I-5 Freeway. Dick worked as a Medford City Policeman in the 1960s and later owned a 24-hour garage, two service stations and a tow truck service. His hobbies included drifting the Rogue River in his "Little Spook" Rogue River special drift boat and racing stock cars at the old circle track on Posse Lane. Dick always lived life to the full with hunting, fishing and anything outdoors.

In the early 1970s, Dick found his way back to the Lord and became active in the Rogue Valley Christian Church where his brother-in-law, John Heberling, was the pastor. Later, John took Dick to a missionary conference in Portland and Dick caught the vision of using his life to serve the Lord on the mission field. He attended two years of Bible College training at Puget Sound Christian College in Seattle. In 1976, the Hamiltons departed for Kenya, Africa, to begin mission service among the remote unreached Pokot tribal people along the Kenya Uganda border. Dick's mechanical ability was soon put to use repairing old broken wells that had been drilled by the British during colonial times. By meeting the people's desperate need for water, Dick won the hearts of the Pokot people and was accepted as part of the tribe. The Hamiltons ran World Vision feeding camps during a famine in 1980 and partnered with World Vision to drill over 100 new wells. Today there are over 20 churches and thousands of Christians, a legacy of Dick's service and love. After returning from full time mission service in 1989, Dick continued to take work groups to Kenya to repair and maintain wells. Dick served over 20 years as a pastor of the Gold Hill Christian Church until retirement.

Dick is survived by his wife of 68 years, Mary Jane (Heberling) Hamilton; daughter Carolee Louise Hamilton, son Richard Scott Hamilton, Jr (Rick) and wife Diana; grandchildren Elizabeth Hamilton, Becca Laroi, Josh Lokeno, Richard Hamilton and Caleb Hamilton; great grandchildren, Nyahmara Laroi, Acacia Laroi, Aceson Laroi and Amari Laroi Wheeler and sisters Joann Miller and Rachel Ames. He was preceeded in death by parents, Scott and Frances Hamilton, sisters Patty Himmelman and Lee Smith and brother Sam Hamilton.

Rogue Valley Christian Church in Medford will be hosting a Memorial Service for Richard Scott Hamilton on April 5th at 1:00 PM.